What aircraft detailing actually costs, and what drives the number

Nobody in this category will answer this, which is exactly why the question keeps getting asked. We are not going to publish a rate card, because a rate card for this work would be dishonest. What we will do is tell you precisely what a price is made of, so you can read a quote and know what it does and does not contain.

By the end of this you should be able to look at two quotes that are far apart and know which one has left something out.

Why nobody publishes a number

Because the same words describe wildly different jobs. An exterior detail on a light jet that was washed six weeks ago and lives in a hangar in Scottsdale, and an exterior detail on a large-cabin aircraft that has been outdoors on a coastal ramp for four months, are the same three words and a different number by a factor of several.

Any company that publishes a flat price for aircraft detailing is either quoting the easy version and adjusting later, or is planning to deliver the easy version regardless of what turns up. Both of those are worse for you than a real quote.

The seven things that actually set the number

1. Size, and specifically wetted area

The largest single driver, and it is not linear with the aircraft’s category name. A large-cabin aircraft has multiples of the surface area of a light jet and disproportionately more of the fiddly geometry: more fairings, more control surfaces, more brightwork, more window area.

2. Condition on arrival

The second largest driver and the one clients least expect. An aircraft on a regular interval is a maintenance job. An aircraft that has not been touched in eight months is a recovery job, and recovery is where all the time goes.

This is the compounding item. Fresh exhaust deposit comes off with mild chemistry and short dwell. Deposit baked through a summer needs repeated passes. Same service name, different afternoon.

3. Interval

Directly connected to the previous point. Aircraft on a scheduled program cost less per visit and materially less per year, because every visit starts from a known state. That is the actual economic argument for a program, and it is more honest than a discount.

4. Where the aircraft is, and what the field allows

Several things live here. Whether we are staffed at that field or dispatching a mobile team, in which case travel is a real cost. Whether there is hangar space or the work is on an open ramp in weather. Whether the FBO permits a wet wash, which is a wastewater question rather than a preference. Whether badging and escort requirements slow the crew’s access.

Two identical aircraft, one at a field where we are staffed and one three hours away, are not the same price and it would be strange if they were. Where we are staffed is published.

5. Access window

Overnight and early morning work is normal in this business because that is when aircraft are available. What changes cost is a compressed window. A crew given six hours does the job. A crew given ninety minutes does a different job, and if somebody has quoted the full job at the ninety minute price, something is going to be dropped. Usually dwell time, which is invisible on the day.

6. Scope, stated properly

The word detail covers a lot. Nine services sit under it: exterior wash, brightwork, correction and protection, interior, disinfection, boots, quick turn, delivery prep and scheduled programs. A quote that does not enumerate is not a quote, it is a number.

Correction in particular should never be bundled invisibly, because correction removes topcoat. It is a decision to spend a finite resource and it should appear as its own line with its own reasoning. Same for coatings.

7. What is behind the crew

The unglamorous half of the number. Hangar keepers liability insurance. Badging at each field. Background checks and drug testing. Documented training per person per service, kept current. Wastewater compliance. Products that carry actual material compatibility qualifications rather than whatever is cheapest by the drum.

None of that is visible on the ramp and all of it is in the price. It is also the entire list of things a very low quote has removed.

How to read a quote that is much cheaper

Cheaper is not automatically worse. Sometimes it is a smaller scope honestly stated, or a field where somebody has a crew standing idle. But there are four specific places the money usually comes from, and all four are worth asking about directly.

• Time. The one that damages nothing when it is spent and damages the finish when it is cut. Ask how many people for how many hours. If the answer is materially less than everyone else’s, that is the answer to the price question.
• Insurance. Ask for the certificate and check that hangar keepers is on it.
• Products. Ask what it is and what it is qualified against. There is a large price difference between a cleaner with real compatibility testing behind it and a drum of general purpose degreaser.
• People. Subcontracted day labour is cheaper than trained, badged, background-checked team members, and it will be cheaper every single time.

The twelve questions piece is the long version of this.

What actually costs you money over five years

Not the per-visit price. Two other things.

Unnecessary correction. A crew that polishes at every visit is spending your film thickness on a schedule. There is 50 to 75 microns of topcoat on that aircraft. Bring the repaint forward by two years and you have spent more than a decade of detailing.

Deferral. Salt sitting in seams, glycol residue sitting through a summer, exhaust deposit baking on. Every one of those turns a maintenance job into a recovery job, and some of them turn into corrosion, which is not a detailing bill at all.

What we will actually tell you

Tell us the aircraft, the field, how it is stored, when it was last done and what you want covered, and we will give you a scoped number rather than a range. If the honest answer is that you do not need what you asked for, we will say that too, because a client who trusts the scope is worth more than one job.

The form is here, or call and talk it through. Either is fine.